Illustrating Kingdom Come as a Graphic Novel (An illustrator's diary)

 

What the Cover looks like.

30/9/13: Extremely disappointed in my productivity rate, I’m such a slow worker and I do believe it’s down to a lack of technical practice. None the less I’m beginning to question if I could ever possibly have work as a storyboard artist or graphic novelist, seems like a pipe dream.

01/10/13: A tutor seems pissed off; it’s kind of nice to see them care about their students. Today I bought a recycled paper book for its muddy neutral looking tone. This’ll help me draw not just shadows but highlights too. It’s a step forward for me and its hardbound so it is good looking enough for if I ever decide to sell my studies, However, I’m on my third year and my still life studies do not relate to my projects. That’s not good, I’ll be best to merge the two fields. 

02/10/13: I’m starting to believe that I will not enjoy working in colour for a comic book, even artist tend to have a colourist who works separately, instead I’ll work in monochrome emphasising the values. Let people dare judge me for it. See right.

03/10/13: Found a website that specialises in comic book font downloads. Their licence allows the fonts to be used in non profit projects or self published comics. http://www.blambot.com/

08/10/13: Was feeling incredibly stressed so I decided to not go in college. I should have called in but I was afraid of being admonished over it. Anyways I’ve got what I need at home for the moment. I also now gained a new trick where if I’m drawing a symmetrical image I’ll draw one side then in photoshop I would duplicate and reverse the other side of the image to make it whole. It’s just a handy trick that saves time.

11/10/13: Okay, I got a headache and the deadline is around the corner. This entry is going to be personal. In the past I have been taught to be pragmatic but how far does that take us? We have to adapt sure, and that’s what I am trying to do but it’s my choice to bite off more than I can chew. I took a BA Hons course to challenge myself and to learn. I’ve had an epiphany and that’s really not to worry and just go with the flow. Before Christmas this will be one for the portfolio.

14/10/13: Observing the speech balloons I found they look kind of wonky due to using a ruler on a Wacom Cintiq. I think I need to make the speech balloons in illustrator with the pen tool. A simple point and click for straight lines would make it easier for me.

29/10/13: I’ve decided to go with a rough look to my drawings, my tutors say that there’s a charm and energy to it that is lost by not loosening my hand and obsessing over clean and bold lines, which is actually more challenging when it comes to drawing. I’ve been looking at my old sketches and the work of Ashley Wood. See below.

Making a Graphic Novel from the work of J.G. Ballard

 I've been working on adapting J.G.Ballard's novel Kingdom Come into a graphic novel. You can still see in these images that it isn't finished, some are missing tone and the speech bubbles badly drawn. This easily solved by having the magic wand tool and quick select mode of the brush tool to cut areas of the dot patterns/tone. The speech bubbles are easily done in Illustrator with the pen tool, I found that to be the most effective, at first I was using a ruler with a wacom cintiq and that really was a bad idea in retrospect, the quality of line and time proved wasteful. I do consider my work as an illustrative approach and I do not see myself as an author of this work, this is an adaption of the novel, Kingdom Come.

I actually have made a diary as I went through the project so I'll find that document today and post that asap. Meanwhile the goal of this project was to test my practice in story telling and sequential art for an audience that would enjoy Ballard's writing enough to see his ideas elaborated with visuals. I was conscious of having non-descript characters wear faces inspired by Edvard Munch's The Scream Painting, so to bring out existentialist tones that I found was in the book.

Hopes and Fears (Part 2) Meeting Clients

This seems like the No. 1 hope and fear, it's important to know what work you can do and what you enjoy doing as there are businesses that can take you on board, the trick is knowing who you can gel with and who will want you. The AOI has their own client directory that they published, it's important to have one, and to make your own directory if possible. As an illustrator we have to help create or maintain the existent image and/or sensibilities of our client and their products/service. Below are a lists of tips for myself and those who are starting out; followed with useful website links, To one up what Laurence Fishburne said in that movie no one remembers, "I can only show you the door" but there's many more doors out there.

 

 

Advertise yourself:

http://www.linkedin.com/

http://www.peopleperhour.com

 

Go client hunting if you are a freelancer:

https://www.elance.com/q/how-it-works-freelancers

http://freelanceswitch.com/

 

Illustrator Directories:

http://www.3x3directory.com/

http://www.directoryofillustration.com/

 

Have your portfolio seen:

http://www.deviantart.com/

https://www.facebook.com/

http://dunked.com/

http://carbonmade.com/

 

Possible hosts for your own professional website, safe for a portfolio:

http://www.wix.com/

http://www.weebly.com/

Hopes and Fears (Part 1) Publishing a Book

I'm starting a new series of posts to act as some remedial for anyone starting out in the illustration industry, including myself, basically involving clearing up hopes and fears for anyone who wants to work in illustration. First hope I'm going to cover is book publishing, I know some illustrators who would want nothing more than a book with their own hard work in so here’s a list of some self-publishing platforms for those who want to go the indie route of book making:
 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/index-new.ep

http://www.blurb.com/

http://www.caricpress.co.uk/

http://www.grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk/index.php

 

This sort of publishing is usually high risk, high reward in terms of business, anything indie is never safe; however it does get the job done.  Usually going indie can be a last attempt for those who can’t seem to get their work printed by the other publishers or those who prefer not to be restricted by any middle men and are/or targeting a niche. Remember that publishing is only the beginning of the battle, distribution and advertising need to be looked at if you want to make business. In the meantime I recommend reading ‘Indie Publishing’ by Ellen Lupton which teaches you how to design and produce your own book.

 

 

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

I'm going through my Jackie Chan, Snake in Eagle Shadow style training regime during the summer, which involves a lot of paper and pencils so to sharpen my practice. To help I've been studying Betty Edwards and found this instructional video. Doing her exercises is what I consider a confidence booster, her philosophy is all about trying to get the mind in a mode that works for the artist. It's all about not drawing symbols and icons with the left side of your brain and instead maintaining a focus on gestural marks and having a pre-visualising mentality.

 

 

 

The most interesting thing I learned from her thus far is that if you close one eye you will see the world in a two dimensional way, makes sense since you need two eyes to watch 3D films at the cinema. I'll remember that if I'm doing close up live studies. Another thing is that it is easy for our mind to process symbols, Edwards makes it clear that we should focus our mind on shapes more in order to draw life like imagery.

Podcasts listening + Drawing = Bliss

As I've got use to working long hours drawing at a desk I've learnt to appreciate having some background noise so I don't get bored and have decided to get a hunger for radio shows and podcasts. One of them is from film maker Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast.

Recent podcasts have involved interviews with comic book industry leads such as Bruce Timm, Jim Lee, Greg Capullo and even the legendary Stan Lee. If anyone out there knows of any podcasts and shows relating towards aspirational and creative minds please let me know, Kevin Smith's show is really good but it leaves me wanting more considering it's uploaded weekly.

For 'Fatman on Batman' and more Smodco shows just follow the link: http://smodcast.com/channels/fatman-on-batman/

The Key to Good Character Design

I found another blog which provides tips and hints on good character design from Aaron Diaz. Character design is something that can permeate a wide majority of entertainment media and a good character can act as a mascot or personification of particular ideas. Personally I need to read this because not all my ideas of character come complete, I'll have an idea for clothing or just a face but through this article I have learnt the importance of using cohesion in visual design and its use to build up on raw ideas.

The whole blog post is seen here:
http://floobynooby.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/tips-on-character-and-costume-design-by.html

For more information on Aaron Diaz and specifically what he is working on you can check his latest project that has been successfully funded through the Kickstarter website, here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/156287353/the-tomorrow-girl-dresden-codak-volume-1
More tips and hints for good character design can be seen here:
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/features/20-character-design-tips